View full sizeJan and Leonard Miller of Parma will celebrate 55 years of marriage later this year. They are only 15 years behind John and Annie Glenn. Kyle Lanzer/Sun News

Leonard Miller met John Glenn only once. It was in downtown Cleveland in 1976, when Glenn was running for vice president.

Miller, a longtime Parma resident, was walking along Superior Avenue when he ran into Glenn, closely followed by a news crew. Miller stuck out his hand.

“He smiled and said, ‘Nice to meet you. Get out and vote.’” Miller said.

The chance encounter with Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, was a foreshadowing for Miller. In 1977, the young engineer was hired by W.L. Tanksley & Associates Inc., a contractor for the NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park.

Miller worked at W.L. Tanksley and NASA Glenn until he retired in 2005. During that time, he came to admire John Glenn, who was also a U.S. senator from Ohio. Miller has even read Glenn’s autobiography, “John Glenn: A Memoir.”

“He has had such a fantastic career, and at his age, he’s so alert and has a great sense of humor,” Miller said. “He’s someone you would want to emulate if you could.”

A few weeks ago, Miller started a campaign to honor Glenn and his wife Annie for their 70th wedding anniversary, which is Saturday.

Miller is encouraging everyone he knows and meets to send anniversary cards to the Glenns, even if the cards arrive a little late.

“Nowadays, there are so few people who stay married,” said Miller, 74, who has been married to his wife Jan for 54 years.

“I seem to remember that the early astronauts had a lot of problems with marriages,” Miller said. “Many of them divorced because of their commitments to the space program.

“So for somebody like John to reach 70 years of marriage with the same woman, that’s quite an accomplishment,” Miller said. “And I’m sure Annie made a lot of sacrifices because of the demands of his career.”

Miller himself had a demanding but satisfying career at W.L. Tanksley and NASA Glenn. He worked on a quite a few significant projects.

The experiments were successful but the mission ended in tragedy when Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts were killed.

“I got to meet everyone of those astronauts and knew them rather well,” Miller said. “They were a great bunch of people.”

Also, as part of one project, Miller flew on the KC-135 — the famous Vomit Comet — which allows astronauts and others to experience weightlessness.

After a steep ascent, the KC-135 free falls for about 20 seconds. When it pulls up, those on board are subject to 2-g forces, which means they feel like twice their weight.

Each KC-135 flight consists of 40 drops in altitude. Miller, after physiological training, made 10 flights over a few days.

“The first day I was so disoriented that they just put me in a seat at the back of the plane,” Miller said. “But after I got accustomed to it, the next few days were just like a day at the office.”

Last year, Miller volunteered as a greeter at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Glenn’s orbiting the earth. The event was at the Cleveland State University Wolstein Center.

It was there that Miller learned about Glenn’s 70th wedding anniversary.

Afterward, Miller volunteered to lead visitors on tours of the NASA Glenn center. In preparation, he read Glenn’s autobiography, along with the biography of another well-known Ohio astronaut, Neil Armstrong.

“Their lives were so similar,” Miller said. “They were so focused on what they were doing. They both flew fighter jets and knew everything about their aircraft, so if something went wrong, they would know how to get out of trouble.”

Today, Miller is still conducts tours at the Glenn center. He also works part-time for Vantage Partners Ltd. in Brook Park, another NASA Glenn contractor.

Miller is scheduled to conduct tours at NASA Glenn on Saturday — and he will ask everyone who goes on those tours to sign anniversary cards for John and Annie Glenn.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.